Order of The Grey: Origins
by Tsezlav
Summary: As the Fifth Blight ravages Ferelden, four young Warden recruits and their companions stand together to face it. (Features Cousland, Mahariel, Tabris and Amell)
1. Chapter 1 - The Red Wedding

Amell I - The Red Wedding

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If someone had told Elizabeth that she would escape from the tower a week ago, she would have called them crazy. If someone had told her that Jowan, her most loyal, faithful and best friend, who she'd known since she came to the tower, was a blood mage, she would have accused that person of being bloody insane. But now, it was all different.

Elizabeth brushed a bang of her hair from her face. Denerim, the capital of Ferelden. The city was lined with half-timbered and brick houses. There were rows of drying clothing hung out above the streets. The smell of hot broth found itself everywhere. The city was increadibly busy. She'd never seen this many people in one place before. There were wagons, carts pulled by horses, craftsmen working, children playing in the streets. Many a stone bridge went across the river Drakon, a dirty, mucky river, running all the way across the city. She saw washerwomen dump water back into the river, hobbyist fishermen trying their best to catch at least something, tired guards patroling the riverside and streets, beggers praying for even the smallest amount of food or money.

"Where in the city are we headed?" Elizabeth asked her companion and recruiter, Duncan. She didn't really know what to make of the Grey Warden. He was mostly silent during their few days together, speaking only when asked a question, which could either be a lot, due to Elizabeth's curiousity, or very little, due to her thinking. She thought of Jowan and his incompetence at magic, which led him to the blood arts. She helped him, or tried to. 'Jowan, wherever you are, I hope you're safe' She silently prayed. He was her friend, no matter how bad of a friend he was.

"The alienage." He replied simply. She had read of alienages, of how badly elves were treated there, of the crimes commited by humans going unpunished.

It met most of her expectations. The houses were stacked, with no space to expand out, and run down, dirty, some even had holes or were near the state of collapse. The elves looked at her with hatred, some spitting in their way or sending them angry gestures. Elizabeth tried to keep looking at Duncan's back, avoiding looking at the on-lookers. In the centre of the alienage there was a massive tree with a square platform in the corner of the square. Duncan stopped and Elizabeth almost crashed into him.

"Why are we stopping?" Elizabeth asked, letting worry slip into her voice. It was probably not the best idea to stop in the middle of the alienage square, as they were out in the open.

"We are waiting for the elder." Duncan replied, calmly. Elizabeth saw two elves, dressed really well considering their living conditions, one in blue, one in green, approach them and gripped her staff tighter, ready for anything.

"Ser, me must ask you to leave" One of them said, the slightly taller one, just a bit taller than Elizabeth. He had short light brown hair and a rather handsome face, "Humans are not welcome here"

"He keeps his composure, even when facing two armed humans." Duncan said as the elder came up to the group.

"Ah, Duncan" The elder said. The elves bowed their heads in respect.

"You know these two, elder?" The taller elf in blue asked.

"Only one, Duncan" The elder said, a tilt of his head towards Duncan.

"This is Elizabeth, my newest recruit from the circle of magi" Duncan introduced her. Elizabeth politely bowed to the three elves, much to their surprise.

"Duncan, should we discuss business inside?" The elder began, "Rhydian, Soris, why don't you show Elizabeth around." The mage looked to Duncan, who gave a short nod.

Duncan and the elder left, leaving Rhydian, Soris and her.

"We were just preparing for a dual wedding" Rhydian informed her.

"Oh," She said, "I apologize for interupting your celebration" Elizabeth said, again, politely, again surprising the elves.

"How are elves treated in the tower, if you don't mind me asking?" Rhydian asked.

"All mages are treated the same in the tower. As mages." She let her bitterness of her treatment slip into her voice by accident. The conversation ended at that.

"The ceremony will start soon" Rhydian informed Elizabeth, "You should stay and watch"

"I would be honoured" Elizabeth replied easily. She stood over most of the elves in height, so she stood behind the lines of cheerful elves, next to the elder and Duncan. A sister of The Chantry walked up to the stairs to the platform where the two grooms and brides were. Elizabeth hated the bloody Chantry. They were a buch of hypocrite wankers. If a templar could freely use magic, then why couldn't a mage? That was always the attitude that always got Elizabeth in trouble with Gregoir and the templars. As the sister started chanting, she was cut off by a party of men, armed guards, led by three men dressed in fine silks, lined with gold. The one in front had a beard and sleek hair, brushed back.

"What have we got here? A few fine whores ripe for the taking" He laughed with his buddies, "Take them!" He ordered the guards.

"Milord, this is a wedding!" The Chantry sister protested. But that was beyond the point. Elizabeth made to move forward, just as Rhydian was hit in the face and knocked unconcious. She felt someone grab her wrist, holding her back. Duncan.

"Let go!" She hissed. Duncan shook his head, but had not leased his hold on Elizabeth's wrist.

"Grey Wardens cannot interfere in politics." Duncan explained.

"I'm not a bloody Grey Warden and this isn't politics" Elizabeth snapped. Duncan let go, but it was too late. The elven women were taken away and Rhydian lay on the platform. The rest of the city elves crowded around the elder. Elizabeth took the opportunity to get up to the platform. Soris, Rhydian's cousin as it turned out, was at the knocked out elf's side. Rhydian had a bruise on his forehead, blood flowing down his face. Elizabeth got down on her knees and traced her fingers on his bruise, her hands starting to glow green with magic. The bruise sealed up and disappeared, only leaving the blood. Elizabeth ripped off a piece of her robe, from the bottom and placed it on the wooden boards of the platform. She froze it and then applied a bit of fire, melting the ice and soaking the cloth. She used it to wipe the blood off of the elf's head, just as he woke up.

"What? Where?" The brown-haired elf jumped up, chocolate brown eyes wide.

"Vaughan took them, cousin. The women." Soris told Rhydian, who's eyes blazed with rage.

"The bastard" The elf swore, standing up. He rushed over to the elder, quickly saying something Elizabeth had not heard while she was approaching. She saw Duncan hand Rhydian a sword and a knife and Soris a crossbow and a set of bolts. Elizabeth realised what they were about to do.

"Can I come with you?" She asked Rhydian and Soris.

"We'll need all, the help we can get." He replied with a nod and a smile. She looked to Duncan, who looked disapproving, but nodded.

"You're not yet a Grey Warden, as you said earlier, and you'll need all the combat experience you can get before you fight the darkspawn." Elizabeth said a quick "thank you" to the warden and followed the elves, led by an elf servant that volunteered to get them into the estate.

"Okay, we're in. Good luck!" The servant said, before running back out of the grounds.

"Intruders!" A guard shouted, drawing his weapons. Elizabeth heard a bark. Was that what a dog sounded like? Yep, it looked like the one from the books, only bigger. And with more teeth. And it was sprinting towards her. Elizabeth quickly cast an ice spell at the dogs legs, making it fall and roll, whimpering. The next second it had a crossbow bolt through its neck. Elizabeth's eyes widened and she gasped, as she saw blood pour from the animal's neck.

"Elizabeth!" She heard Rhydian's voice and looked to where he was, only to find a guard drop to the ground, throat slashed.

"Thanks" She called out as another guard came up sword raised, at the elf. Elizabeth threw a lighting bolt at him, the metal of his armour heating up and vibrating. He was finished off by Soris, who put a bolt through the guard's eye. Elizabeth looked away and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, only to meet Rhydian's.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes. Thank you" She said, shrugging his hand off and walking up to one of the bodies and drawing his dagger. She quickly sheathed it into her belt. It would come in handy, eventually.

They burst into the nearest door, Rhydian throwing his dagger into the nearest guard, killing him instantly, and Soris shooting the second one in the room. There was a chest in the corner of the room. Soris opened it, taking out a suit of chainmail and leather boots. He handed them to Rhydian, who tossed them on his celebratory clothes, now stained with blood. He retrieved his dagger from the guardsman's corpse. They broke into the next room, a lone guard standing by the door. He was asleep, so Rhydian dashed through the room. The guard was waking up just as Rhydian cut his throat.

"That was just cold, cousin" Soris said. Elizabeth nodded absentmindedly. What the bloody heck did she get herself into?

The next room appeared to be a dining room. There were three guards there.

"Lookie here boys, we've got us two knife-ears bringing us a little gift. Kill the kinfe-ears, but keep the whore, we'll have us a bit of fun." The three guards attacked at once, each choosing a target. Elizabeth cast an Arcane bolt at her attacker, following up with Winter's grasp. The guard froze and his weight tilted him and he fell, smashing into a multiload of pieces. She looked around: Rhydian was still engaged in a battle with the leader, but Soris was rapidly losing the fight with his attacker, having only a crossbow to block the attacks. Elizabeth threw down her staff and drew the dagger she had picked up. She ran at the man attacking Soris, tackling him and stabbing him in the gut. Repeatedly. When she was done, the corpse of the guard was a mess, as were Elizabeth's robes. She got up and looked at the elves, at the side of a woman's body.

"They killed her. They bloody killed her, Soris" Rhydian said angrily. Why would they do such a thing? To defenseless women?

Rhydian closed the elven woman's eyes and rested her arms on her chest.

"Let's go. I can't wait to kill that bastard Vaughan" Rhydian spat the man's name as if venom on the tongue.

They opened the door to a hallway. They moved down the way until they reached a door to the left. Opening it, Elizabeth was pulled back out by someone. As she was moved, a bolt smashed into the wooden door, splinters flying out. Soris stuck in his head and crossbow, firing. She heard a cry of pain and the rattle of metal against the ground.

"He's down" He said.

The armoury wasn't terribly big, but it had a lot of equipment. Rhydian grabbed a suit of studded leather armour from one of the chests, Soris did too. Elizabeth turned to watch the door for other troops. When the elves were done getting changed they walked out, the mage following them. They looked quite good in their leather armour. The hallway continued on to three doors.

The two doors on the sides burst open so suddenly, Elizabeth jumped a bit in panic. A guard smashed into her with his shield, tackling her to the ground. His shortsword was at her throat. This was it, Elizabeth thought.

Elizabeth tried to electrocute him, he shook for a bit and when she tried to draw the dagger, he grabbed her wrist and twisted it, making her cry out in pain. Tears appeared in her eyes, blurring her vision. Her staff was on the ground somewhere, so she cast Arcane bolt again, wherever her other hand could hit him. His limp body fell right on Elizabeth, its weight almost crushing her. She couldn't move, therefore help the city elves fight. Her wrist was most likely broken, so she couldn't push the body off. She lay there for a few minutes, eyes closed, listening to the sounds of combat, until they stopped. Her body felt lighter and she could draw in a deep breath.

"Elizabeth" She heard Rhydian say. She opened her eyes to find the elf hovering above her, "Are you okay?" He asked, rhetorically, obviously seeing her wrist. He helped her sit up and Elizabeth relocated her wrist, wincing in pain before using a healing spell to fix any internal bleeding or bone fractures.

Elizabeth stood and grabbed her staff, dusting herself off in the process. The last door remained. 'This better be the bloody one' Elizabeth thought. Sure enough it was.

As they burst in, they saw the nobles, and Vaughan turn around. The elven woman, the ones not dead, were behind them, on the ground. Elizabeth assesed the three wankers: none were wearing any type of armour. They were carrying swords at their sides, no shields.

"Wait!" Vaughan called, obviously seeing the weapons and blood the elves sported, "How about a deal? How about I give you say...40 sovereigns and you just leave us be. We'll return the women tommorow. That's more than fair" It sickened Elizabeth, truly sickened her. She wanted the man to die. Thank the maker that Rhydian didn't even consider the offer. Not that Elizabeth blamed him. And they were plunged into combat. Rhydian went straight for Vaughan. Soris shot at the left man and Elizabeth went for the right. Her man slashed downwards, Elizabeth raising her staff to block, using the metal grip to block the sword. She used it to block right then, left. He tried to stab her so she backed away, her staff head catching fire and leaving, a fireball lighting up the room and setting the lordling on fire. He screamed as he stumbled around, before falling, nothing but a charred corpse. She looked to Rhydian, still fighting Vaughan, and Soris, fighting the other guy. Vaughan was backing up, his back turned to her, getting wailed on by Rhydian's sword and dagger combination. Just as he reched her, Elizabeth stuck out her staff. Vaughan fell right on his bum, eyes wide and mouth dropped. Rhydian drove his sword through Vaughan's heart, his dagger going into the noble's throat. The third noble, the one fighting Soris, panicked and was killed by Soris upon getting distracted by his friend's death.

The group moved to the elven women.

"Did you kill all of them cousin?" A pretty red-haired elf asked.

"Like dogs Shianni" Rhydian replied, satisfied with the chaos they caused.

On the way back, after the armed party looted the bodies, Shianni initiated conversation with Elizabeth,

"It's not common for humans to help us, so thank you." She had said before whispering, "Do you know any spells for contraception?" Those bastards. Elizabeth's eyes widened, but she nodded. She quickly cast it, a blue light leaving her hands and entering Shianni. That was it. All the magic in her body was exhausted and Elizabeth suddenly felt heavier. The elf gasped and crushed Elizabeth in a hug, muttering repeated "thanks you's." As the elven woman went ahead, Elizabeth pulled out a blue lyrium potion, one of the few she took with her when she helped Jowan.

When the group came back to the alienage, they were greeted as heroes of sorts. The women were led off quickly.

"Halt!" An entourage of guards arrived, way too many for them to take at once. A guard with a greying beard stepped forward.

"We are looking for the outlaws responsible for the murder of Nobleman Vaughan Kendells." The head guard called out. Elizabeth went to move forward but Duncan stopped her. Again. Rhydian went forward instead.

"It was me. Only me." The head guard looked disbelieving.

"Seize him!" He ordered. Duncan went ahead.

"Stop!" Duncan ordered. The guards all stopped.

"Warden Commander. Stand aside. This man is a criminal and will face punishment." The guard said.

"I hereby invoke the Right of Conscription" Duncan said. The head guard looked livid.

"Son of a-! Fine. But I want him out of the city by dawn." With that, the guards left.

"I suggest you say your goodbyes" Duncan said. Rhydian looked about as shocked as Elizabeth felt. Duncan had just torn Rhydian from his home for a cause that even Elizabeth had not yet understood. Even if he had just saved the elf's life.

The alienage elder, Valendrian, came up to her, "I wish to thank you on behalf of all of us. It is rare to find someone as good-hearted as you. If there is anything you wish of us, and it is within our power, we will grant it."

"Is there a bath anywhere around here I can use?" She was dirty from the drying blood and mud from the journey.

"Of course, I'll have someone show you the way. Is that all you wish?" He asked, honestly a bit confused. He had expected her to ask for something of value.

He called an elf and asked him to show her to the bath house. The elf led her to a house at the end of arow of houses. It wasn't a bad looking house either. Inside, she was showed to a tub full of water.

"We'll have it heated in a few minutes." The elf said. Elizabeth shook her head.

"There's no need, thank you" She said. The elf left.

Once she was finished, she went to find the others. They were waiting by the gate. Rhydian was now dressed in a clean set of leather armour and had two daggers by his sides.

They left Denerim that day, to The Brecilian Forest.

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I do not own DA:O.

Leave a review! Constructive criticism is welcome.


	2. Chapter 2 - Smoke and Mirrors

Mahariel I - Smoke and mirrors

Here it is. Chapter 2 or the Mahariel origin.

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Taeron found Tamlen in a little clearing, holding a bow, an arrow knocked, to a group of three humans. He dropped next to him, silently, drawing and knocking his own arrow into his bow.

Tamlen was first to speak: "You arrived just in time. I found these humans lurking in the bushes. Bandits, no doubt" The shems looked terrified at the sight of the two dalish. They shook in their boots. Pathetic, Taeron thought.

"What say you, Taeron? What should we do with them?" Tamlen asked.

"We should find out why they're here" He replied.

"Does it matter?" Tamlen asked, annoyed. "Hunting or banditry, we need to move camp if we let him live."

The leader started talking. "Look, we didn't come here to cause t-trouble. We just found a cave, to the south, with some ruins in them and we thought there might be, might be-"

"So thieves." Tamlen cut off.

"I'd like to see those ruins" Taeron knew the woods inside out and has never seen nor heard of such a cave.

"So would I. I've scouted every inch of these woods for months, and I've been to every cave. There are no ruins"

"It's true, we swear" Another of the men grew a spine and spoke, "We found this at the entrance" He held out a tablet. Tamlen took the tablet.

"Is this written in Elvish?" Tamlen asked him, showing the tablet. It was a crumbling slab of stone with strange symbols engraved in it.

"How should I know? I don't read" Taeron snapped, "Were there any more like this?" He asked the shems. Tamlen drew his bow again.

"We didn't get far, there was - a demon with hungry black eyes. We ran into you, as i-it was" The one in front said.

"Well, lethallan, what do we do with them? The others will burn us out if we let them live." Tamlen said. Yeah true, Taeron thought. Tamlen looked to him, letting him decide. Taeron thought. If he killed them, he'd become a murderer: the men were unarmed, they weren't warriors. However, if he let them go, one of them would surely tell some chieftain, who would then come and burn the forests, kill his clan. His inner voice also told him to kill. Vengence, it said, for his parents, for all those who fell. He made his decision.

"Kill 'em" Taeron said as he loosed his arrow into the man on front. The man fell in a mixture of blood and agony. The other two started to run. Tamlen killed the second one and Taeron quickly drew another arrow and fired. He shot the last man right in the back of the head.

"Now then, should we check out these ruins?" Tamlen asked, satisfied.

"Definitely" Taeron replied. They strode through a forest path, going through thorns and bushes. There was a bit of a clearing and a halla. A dead halla.

"Poor thing" Taeron said as he inspected the dead animal. It was a bad omen. They continued on throught the forest.

"Ah!" Tamlen called, "What do we have here?" He moved the thorns and found a cave opening.

The entrance was old and covered with thorns. They moved in and Taeron motioned for Tamlen to be quiet and pointed up at the intricate system of webs, with spiders, upside down, crawling around. They crouched and snuck down the cavern. Taeron snuck ahead, towards a door. He felt Tamlen tug at his shoulder. He looked to his childhood friend. Tamlen gestured to a pressure plate. Taeron nodded, grateful and moved around. They saw an opening at he end of the room. Tamlen snuck ahead of Taeron, the latter checking the room. Tamlen stopped suddenly. A spider dropped right in front of him, its back turned to Tamlen. Tamlen quietly drew his Dar'misu. He plunged it into the spiders back, killing it and letting the disgusting creature let out its blood. They gently moved the carcass on "three." They moved through the hole and into another cave hall. This one had no spiders. They walked it, full height.

They stopped at a statue.

"This is human and elven. Do you think this is from our ancestors? Living in caves like dur'genlen." He said.

"Maybe" Taeron said, as he touched the statue. The second he did that, "Oh shit! Watchout!" The skeletons around them rose, rusty weapons in hand. Taeron bashed the nearest with his bow, the bones flying apart. Tamlen's bow was still on his back, so he did the same with his blades. Taeron fired off an arrow, it getting embedded in the nearest skeleton's head.

"Creators damn them!" Taeron yelled, smashing the skeleton with his bow. Tamlen parried another skeleton, destroying it. There were two left, one for each of them. Taeron kicked the kneecap off one, making it half-fall. Not from pain, but from lacking a kneecap. Taeron finished it off with a kick to the skull, at about the same time Tamlen finished his, that skeletons skull getting cut in half. Once they were done Taeron looked at the door.

They approached it and Taeron drew another arrow. He gestured for Tamlen to open it. He complied and out came a horrific demon bear thing. It was black, with red eyes and bony spines growing out of it. Blood was all over it and it stank of rot. Taeron loosed his arrow, it striking the creature's eye. Tamlen jumped at it from behind, both blades inbedding themselves deep in the back of the giant thing. Taeron was dashing backwards rapidly as the monster got really ticked off. It shook off Tamlen and charged right down the hall, right at Taeron. He loosed another arrow. And another. Both hit the demon in the face, only angering it further. It was pretty much on him now. 'You can do it' Taeron thought to himself. He threw himself against a wall, the demon monster's charge going by. He pushed away from the wall, taking a quick shot at the monster. Tamlen, who had drawn his own bow now, fired another few arrows in rapid succsession. The thing turned around.

"How much more can this creator damned abomination take?" Tamlen shouted.

"It has to be close. Just a few more and we'll kill it." Taeron replied.

Sure enough, when the monster went in for a final charge, both elves shot arrow after arrow. After about another 4 or 5 from both elves, it finally went down with a loud roar. Taeron and Tamlen cheered.

"What was that?" Tamlen asked as they stopped cheering. Taeron shrugged.

"It looked like a bear. Kind of." He explained.

They moved into the room, a large cavern, after retreiving their arrows. In the centre of the cavern there was a large mirror.

"What is that?" Tamlen asked. Tamlen approached the mirror, "It's beautiful. I wonder what this writing says."

The mirror was perfectly polished with an eerie sheen. It was beautiful indeed.

"Stay back. We need to see if it's safe." Taeron said.

"It stood here for how many centuries?" Tamlen started, "I'm sure it's not dangerous. I just want to see the writing-Hey, did you see that? I think I saw something move inside the mirror" Tamlen continued.

"What?" Taeron asked.

"Hold on, I just want to see what it is. Can you feel that?" Tamlen asked, "It knows we're here. Its showing me places, a city underground? And a great drakness..."

"Tamlen..." Taeron started but was cut off,

"It-It sees me!" His voice broke, "Help! I can't look away!"

Taeron moved forward rapidly, hoping to pull him away, but there was a flash. His eyes burned and he was thrown back down the steps, his back hitting the stone floor. His vision blurred before darkening. Taeron let the darkness take him.

Taeron shot up, breathing heavily. He was in his tent, the smell of hearth and grass surrounding him. His thoughts wandered for a bit. Damn! Tamlen!

Taeron dressed in his dalish leathers quickly, throwing his quiver and bow over his shoulder. He put his sword in its sheath and ran outside. As soon as he was outside, he felt as if someone stabbed him. Everywhere.

"You're awake!" Fenarel greeted him, "You have the creators own luck lethallan. Everyone has been worried sick about you. How do you feel? He asked, his expression making it clear that he was severly ill.

"Where's Tamlen?" Taeron asked.

"We don't know" He said, his voice dark, "The shems that brought you here saw no sign of him."

He tried to remember what happened, but couldn't.

"I can't remember. I was in a cave. There was a mirror, then nothing." Taeron said, irritated.

"Grey Wardens appeared out of nowhere with you, delirious with fever. The leader said he found you outside a cave, unconcious. They left again, but not before helping the keeper use old magic to heal you." Fenarel explained.

"I need to see the keeper right away." Taeron said.

"She wants to talk to you as well" Fenarel said with a nod.

He went in search of the keeper, who was by her tent. Her face upon seeing him was full of relief.

"I see you are awake da'len. It is fortunate Duncan and the others found you when they did. I do not know what dark power held you, but it nearly bled the life from you." The keeper said. So he almost died. But from what?

"Is Tamlen sick as well?" Taeron asked, hopeful.

"If he encountered the same thing as you, yes. The Grey Wardens said they found you outside a cave already sick. Da'len, Duncan said there might have been darkspawn creatures inside the cave. is this true?"

"No, just spiders, skeletons and a bear?" Taeron replied in a half-question, "There was a mirror"

"A mirror? And it caused all this? I have never heard of such a thing in all the lore we have collected." The keeper sighed heavily, "I had hoped for answers when you woke, but there are only more questions." She paused "Are you well enough to show us the way da'len? Without you we will not find it."

"Yes, of course" Taeron replied easily. He needed to find Tamlen, who could be dying.

"I am relieved to hear that. The clan is going to pack up move north. Take Merrill with you to the cave, find Tamlen, quickly." The keeper said.

"We're leaving so soon?" Taeron asked. They were only here for a few weeks.

"If there is truth to what the wardens said, the darkspawn are coming. We need to outrun them. But that is not out only concern. Did you encounter any humans in the forest?" Marethari asked him.

"No" Taeron lied, "But are you not interested in the ruins and the mirror?"

"I would be lying if I said I was not. But whatever knowledge lies in that cave is not worth our children. I am sending you back to find Tamlen. That is all" The keeper said.

"Very well" Taeron agreed. He went for Merrill, who was near the halla pens.

"You are here. The keeper told me that you'd need help looking for Tamlen. Shall we head off?" Merrill asked.

"Let's go" Taeron led ahead.

They moved through pretty much the same forest paths as he and Tamlen had seemingly only hours ago.

"Wait" Taeron held up his hand in a fist, signaling for Merrill to stop. Taeron drew his bow, an arrow already knocked. A short, twisted creature stood there. It looked like a durgen'len had died and rotted before coming back to life. He let the arrow fly loose and it struck the creature in the head, black blood spilling out of it as the creature made roar-like sounds.

"What was that?" Merrill asked, slightly terrified.

"The Darkspawn" Taeron said, suddenly understanding why the keeper wanted to leave. They moved out, further down the trail. He signaled another stop. There were two darkspawn, both with black bows on the path.

"Merrill, use fire on the left one" Taeron commanded. Merrill complied, shooting a fireball at the darkspawn monster. Taeron shot an arrow at the other one, right between the eyes. They both fell and the elves moved on.

"Taeron look!" Merrill whispered, pointing. It was a shemlen and a flat-ear. The shemlen was a woman with the same snow white hair as the one from the dream. They seemed to be in a discussion of some sort, the corpses of half-a-dozen darkspawn at their feet.

"What does it matter? It isn't like we are going to return" The woman was saying, quite heatedly.

"I'm just curious, you've not told me-" He cut himself off as he saw Taeron and Merrill approach. The flat-ear drew his daggers but the shemlen kept her stance neutral. Taeron was ready to fight should things go south. The flat ear saw that he wasn't a darkspawn and lowered his weapon.

"Who are you?" Taeron asked.

"I am Elizabeth Amell and this is my companion, Rhydian Tabris. We are Grey Warden recruits." The white-haired shemlen, Elizabeth said. She had a clear accent, one that carried her status. She was probably a chieftain's daughter.

"Why are you here?" Taeron asked.

"Our commander is here for Warden business" The flat-ear answered, Taeron noticing him moving in front of the shemen protectively. Interesting. Taeron had heard of the way flat-ears were treated by shemlen, how the city elves lived in poverty and pathetically served shems, too scared to rise up and fight their oppressors.

Taeron took a good look at the two Wardens. The flat-ear was brown-haired and grey eyed, of a tall stature, for an elf, and a lanky build. His two daggers were in his hands. The shemlen was shorter than the flat-ear, only by a bit, and slim. Her face was beautiful, with elegant features and sapphire-blue eyes, looking at him and Merrill. Her face was framed with snow-white hair, messily done up, with bangs down in the front. Her hair was dotted with blood and dirt. She wore robes, dirty and ripped at the knees and boots, halfway up her shins that were coated in muck and a staff on her back. Was she a first, like Merrill? But shemlen locked up their mages.

"We need to get inside the cave" Merrill told the pair.

"Why?" Rhydian asked, standing in the way, "We should get you help. You look sick." He said this to Taeron, much to the Dales annoyance. This flat-ear was wasting precious time. His temper was firing up.

"Out of my way flat-ear" Taeron snarled, in a seeming

"What did you just call me?" Rhydian raised his daggers.

"Rhydian" Elizabeth adressed the city elf, "Just let them pass" The flat-ear calmed and stepped aside. Taeron stomped past them.

"Thank you" He heard Merrill say to the Wardens.

Inside, the cave had not changed, except the darkspawn corpses now littering the floor. Did the Warden Commander do this? If he did, Taeron was impressed. Merrill followed Taeron as he backtracked through the cave, past the corpses. They went through the spider room, the insects dead. They turned to the hallway, the one the bear was in. There were four...five darkspawn doing darkspawny things. Taeron knocked two arrows at once, aiming towards the closest two together.

"Merrill, I want you to use a bit of entropy on any that come close, I'll deal with the rest" Taeron said.

"Alright" Merrill said, nodding. Taeron fired off the arrows, killing the two darkspawn, one with a throat shot, the other: a head. The other three charged. Taeron shot off another arrow, in the foot of one of the monsters. It fell and tripped another one. The third simply toppled over. Taeron executed it as Merrill fried the other two.

"Thanks" He said as he retrieved his arrows. He moved over to the two he shot first and something in the corner of eye moved quick. Taeron's reflex spun him right, raising his bow. This darkspawn was bigger, with a bit more armour. The bow's ironbark managed to block the hit and Taeron shoved the spawn back. He threw his bow left and drew his Dar'misu. He spun away as the darkspawn swung its sword. The monster spun with another hit, Taeron parrying the hit and cutting the monster. It recoiled back and Taeron advanced. He ducked another strike and pushed the dar'missu up through the darkspawn's stomach. The creature cried out as black blood spilled from its organs. Taeron pulled it out and sheathed it. He retrieved his bow and arrows.

"Come, Merrill" Taeron told his companion. Taeron opened the door to the room with the mirror. There were darkspawn corpses around another shem, armoured and armed with two swords. Taeron saw that the mirror now had ruptures, like the ones on water, on the once smooth surface.

"Ah, I thought I heard fighting outside. I am Duncan, Commander of the Grey Wardens in Ferelden" The shemlen said.

"If you heard fighting, why didn't you help?" Taeron asked, irritated.

"I was quite busy. Not all the kills in this cave are yours." Duncan said.

"Do you know what this is?" Taeron pointed at the mirror.

"A darkspawn artifact. One that must be destroyed." The Commander moved up the stairs and smashed the mirror, crumbling it to a million little pieces. Merrill gasped beside him.

"What about Tamlen?" Taeron asked.

"You have the taint. Whatever the mirror did, it passed it to you. I found you, but there was no sign of your friend. Wherever he is, he might also have the taint." Duncan said.

"So that's it. I die, assuming the taint kills. Tamlen dies. Is that it?" Tamlen spat.

"I can offer you a cure. But it comes with a price" The Commander replied. Of course. Since when has a shem ever done anything from the goodness of his heart?

"Name it" Taeron challenged.

"The Darkspawn horde is gathering south, at Ostagar. The Grey Warden Order is dwindling. I've recruited two already, you might have met them, but the Order needs more skilled fighters." Duncan explained.

"So I can join your order. And live. Or I can die. There's not much of a choice." Taeron said bitterly.

"The choice is yours. But if you choose to join, you must know that a Warden's life is a tough one, and that you may never see your clan again." Duncan said seriously. His heart skipped a beat. He wished he could go back to yesterday morning and punch his curious ass unconcious, so he wouldn't go hunting, so we wouldn't find out about the cave. It hurt. He could never have imagined being forced to leave his clan, his family.

Taeron thought. Would it be worth it? He would fight for his clan, but for what? He'd never see them again. No...He couldn't live without his clan. He'd die among them. Taeron had not noticed Merrill go pick up a mirror shard until she asked Duncan some question.

"I'll give you time to think" Duncan said.

They went back to the clan's camp, Taeron and Merrill actually going back in, while Rhydian, Duncan and Elizabeth hung back at their own little camp.

"Taeron" The keeper beckoned him. He stood in front of her. He felt a bit sick. 'Must be the taint' Taeron thought.

"We didn't find him keeper" Taeron admitted sadly, and with a hint of shame.

"Has Duncan explained your sickness?" The keeper asked.

"You knew?" Taeron wanted to shout, but he knew he couldn't, he knew it'd be unfair. She was his adoptive mother, his elder, his keeper.

"My magic helped heal you. Duncan told me about the taint then." Keeper Marethari told him.

"I don't want to go to Ostagar. I want to die in the forest, amidst my clan." Taeron said those words like a child. He wanted to be one. Careless and free. He was bound now.

"No. I will not allow another child of the Creators die from the taint. You will fight amongst the wardens against the darkspawn. They have a cure, and you'll have your chance to avenge Tamlen." Marethari replied.

"But-" Taeron protested.

"This is my final say." Marethari said.

"Can I at least attend Tamlen's funeral?" Taeron asked.

"Of course" The keeper replied. Taeron's life was changed forever.


	3. Chapter 3 - A long road ahead

Amell II - The Long Road Ahead

* * *

Elizabeth didn't know what to think of the Dalish Elf. Taeron didn't speak much, he only answered with a basic 'yes' or 'no'. He looked sickly and Duncan had told Elizabeth to watch for the elf's worsening condition.

"He's tainted. It's slowed but if we do not hurry to Ostagar, he might not make it" Duncan had said when they were away from the other two of their group, "I want you to help anytime he's in any serious pain."

"I'll keep my eye on him" She had replied.

So far, on the uneventful journey, the Dalish elf had been distanced, scouting around the forest, not letting any of them interfere.

Even now, Taeron was just walking, blankly staring ahead. Duncan had said that there was one more stop left, Castle Cousland. From what the books told her, the capital of Highever and residence of the Teyrn himself.

"How are mages treated in the tower?" It was a hoarse rasp, caused by a lack of talking, made by Taeron.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"What do you think, shemlen?" He replied, his tone not hiding his irritation. She found him quite easily irritable.

"They're treated decently, I guess." Elizabeth said.

"What do you mean?" He asked, obviously not happy with her answer.

"We get food and shelter, as well as something to do." She replied.

"But what about the templars? Don't they restrict your freedoms?"

"They do. At times they do terrifying things" She shook a bit with those words, supressing a bad memory, "But you learn to live with it." And with that she walked ahead.

"You got him talking, huh?" Rhydian caught up to her, matching her stride with his own.

"Somewhat" She replied.

"I can understand him, I think." Rhydian said, "Forced from his home, forced to join the Wardens. It's not easy"

"I guess" She said, thinking.

"You know, you never finished telling me about how you were conscripted." Rhydian started, changing the subject.

"Alright. I had a friend, one I knew for a very long time, who needed my help. He was set to become tranquil and he fell in love with some Chantry sister and wanted to run away" Elizabeth took a breath, "So he asked me to help destroy his phylactery."

"Tranquil? Phylactery?" Rhydian asked.

"Tranquils are mages that are rendered emotionless. They become cleaners or librarians with no sense of who they once were."

"That's terrible. Why would they do such a thing?"

"To stop a mage from turning to blood magic. And a phylactery is a blood sample Templars take from newly-arrived mages in case of escape. They can use it to hunt down the escapees" Elizabeth explained, "We were going to destroy his phylactery. When we destroyed it, the Templars found us. My friend promised me that he wasn't a blood mage, that there was no reason to make him tranquil. He lied. He lied to me. Lied to everyone." Light tears welled up in her eyes but she blinked them back, "And that's how I ended up here."

"I'm sorry" Rhydian said, sincerity in his tone, as he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you"

"At least your wife didn't get kidnapped on your wedding day" Rhydian laughed bitterly, "We're band of outcasts united to fight the Blight. I can't say I really see Ferelden's future as bright and sunny."

"True" Elizabeth agreed. She looked ahead: Duncan had stopped and was talking about something with Taeron.

She and Rhydian approached.

"We're going to stop for the day. There" Duncan said, pointing to a large house. An inn?

"Why?" Taeron asked.

"You need to rest. We'll continue tomorrow" Duncan said.

* * *

The inn was hot inside, men and women drinking and chatting away. There were eyes on their group, particularly her. Was it because she was a mage? It was unfair, truly. She must have looked nervous because Rhydian touched her shoulder.

"Stay close to me" He said. She nodded her head absent-mindedly as they followed Duncan. Many of the men turned away, continuing their activities, maybe because of the two armed elves and the armed Commander of The Grey.

"Two rooms and supper please." Duncan said to the innkeeper.

"That'll be 30 silvers sir" The innkeeper replied. Duncan handed him the money, "Will you have supper here or in your rooms?"

"Here will be fine" Duncan answered.

"I'll have Hap show you the room" The innkeeper said as he took Duncan's money. He called for a Hap and a boy of around 12 ran out from the kitchen.

"Follow me sirs" Hap said, walking ahead.

They followed Hap up a wooden staircase in the back corner of the front hall. The hallway was around seven doors. The inkeeper led them to the last two down the hall.

"Here you are, sir" Hap said.

"Thank you Hap" Duncan said and handed the boy a copper. Hap happily skipped off after a shy 'thank you' to Duncan.

"Elizabeth, do you mind sharing a room with Rhydian or Taeron?" Duncan asked.

"No" She replied.

"Are all three of us going to be in the same room?" Rhydian asked.

"You can share with me, but I'm afraid you might be mistaken for darkspawn" Duncan joked, "Also, I need Elizabeth to look after Taeron, in case he gets unwell. And I'll need you to look after Elizabeth," Duncan told Rhydian.

"Alright" Rhydian agreed.

"Make yourselves comfortable. I'll knock on your door in a few minutes." Duncan said, his final words before he entered his room.

Elizabeth looked around their accommodations. The room wasn't terribly big, nor too small. It was just...regular sized. There were two beds, on either side, a small window in the centre of the back wall, looking out at the purple-orange sky. There was a chest under the window, for things.

"There are only 2 beds" Taeron commented.

"Well, I do find those face tatoos very atractive." Elizabeth joked, trying to mask her smile with a serious expression. Taeron frowned while Rhydian smiled slightly. It wasn't technically untrue. His vallasin from the edges of his forehead straight along the top in black rhombuses. It was mostly covered by his hair, which was long, down at chin length in a black messy mop. Emerald green eyes gazed curiously at her.

"I'll sleep on the floor" Taeron announced, "The flat-ear can have that bed and you can have that one" He pointed to the beds respectively.

"What? No! You're sick!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"And? In the forest or in our camp, there aren't any beds." Taeron argued.

"I'll sleep on the floor. There, its decided." Rhydian said.

Elizabeth put down her travel bag, a large black leather pouch with Tevinter runes, a bag she'd 'borrowed' from the Tower's underground cellars. It was enchanted to have a large storage capacity, so Elizabeth kept the majority of her few things there: a few books, potions, coins she'd collected from dead Denerim guards, her mother's necklace, a black steel chain with an enchanted diamond, carved into the shape of an eagle spreading its wings. It was the one thing she managed to hide from the templars, the one thing they never suspected her having. She hadn't figured out the enchantment yet however, it was something that none of the books could say. Elizabeth also put her staff on her bed, but kept the dagger at her waist. She put the pack in the chest and looked to her companions. Rhydian had taken off his armour, but kept his weapons whereas Taeron had only left his bow and quiver.

There was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Rhydian called.

"Duncan" The commander answered. Rhydian opened the door.

They went down stairs, where the innkeeper had Hap show them to a table. A woman carried out some wooden plates with meat and lettuce on it, as well as some rye bread on the side. Elizabeth ate slowly, savouring the cooked food. It was hundreds of times better than those shite rations they ate day in, day out. Taeron ate hastily, wolfing down his food, as did Duncan.

"I haven't ever ate this good" Rhydian stated, mouth full. Has he really not?

"So Taeron, what was it like? Being Dalish, I mean." Rhydian asked.

"It's a good life. There is the clan- family. They'll always look after you. There's freedom, you can do whatever you want. " Taeron replied.

"That sounds great" Rhydian said, "Much better than what we get."

"There's a reason your people come to mine." The Dalish elf said.

"So do the Dalish not fear mages?" Elizabeth asked. Taeron shook his head.

"No, we respect those gifted with magic. Our keepers are the wisest in our clan." He said.

"Oh. So Duncan, tell us more about your order" Elizabeth changed the subject.

"Well, what do you wish to know?" Duncan asked.

"How many Wardens are there? In Ferelden I mean?" Was her first question.

"Very few. Apart from myself. Two dozen, if that. All of them at Ostagar" Duncan answered. So few?

"But how will two dozen stop a Blight?" Taeron asked.

"We have called upon the Orlesians to relieve us" Duncan explained. Elizabeth shuttered. She remembered the Orlesian Seekers, that came once on accusations of mage revolution. They didn't find what they were looking for though, because they never came back. They were harsh with their methods, killing two apprentices and one mage on very little evidence.

The door was busted open, four men walking in. They wore an overcoat over their chainmail, yellow and white, with a brown bear in the middle. The book on Fereldan nobility had said that this was the sigil of the Howe family. What were they doing here though? This was technically Highever territory. The inn went dead silent.

"Innkeep!" One of the soldiers, a red-haired man with a bushy moustache called out, "A drink to the soldiers of his majesty!" They walked slowly through the inn. One of them grabbed a woman, some serving maid.

"'At do we 'av 'ere?" Third man, one with an eye patch asked, "Two knife-ears, an 'uman and an 'arpy. It's like a bloody joke" Elizabeth froze. Taeron stood up, hands on his sword. Rhydian stood too, but his hands were balled into fists, not on his weapons. The man with the eye patch had his hand on his sword, as did his mates.

"Watch 'yerself tree bugger" The eye patch man said, glaring at Taeron with his single eye.

"This isn't the place for your squabbles. Take it outside" The innkeeper said, raising his voice. They stood there, the four Howe guards and them, Elizabeth now having stood up.

Another soldier walked in, "Leave 'em be. 'Sides, 'eve got things to prepare for, lads" This must have been the commander. He was wearing heavier armour and had a yellow cloak.

"Yes sir!" The four men called leaving, the eye patch soldier spat on the ground before leaving. They heard the thunder of horse hooves leaving as they further left the inn.

They ate the rest of their supper in silence. Elizabeth left the table and went up the stairs back to the room. She placed down a blanket and a pillow on the ground. That was good enough, right? She put the dagger under her own pillow and lay down. The bed was hard and uncomfortable, but it was better than the ground. Elizabeth closed her eyes, not having realised how tired she'd been until now, so, doing what any wise man would do, she let the hard earned sleep take her…

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" Taeron hissed as he shook her awake, the mage bolting upright.

"What? What?" Elizabeth answered. She could smell smoke, "What's on fire?" She exclaimed.

"This building, and us, if we don't leave" Taeron answered. At that moment the door was broken down, one of the soldier's bodies hitting the floor, Rhydian on top of him, both his daggers in the man's body. She recognised him as being one of Howe's soldiers from earlier.

"Come on!" Rhydian shouted over the commotion outside, picking his daggers from the corpse. Elizabeth opened the chest quickly to retrieve her bag. She equipped her staff too, before going through the frame.

The fire blazed on the opposite side of the hall, as well as from across rooms.

"Come on!" Taeron urged.

"Where's Duncan?" Elizabeth asked.

"Downstairs. Come on now, quick!" Rhydian shouted, going down.

Downstairs was even more chaotic, with fires spreading all around, tables, chairs, walls. There were arrows and crossbow bolts sticking out of posts and walls. There were dead too. The nice innkeeper, an arrow sticking through his throat, serving maids and customers , some cut or shot down where they stood. Bile rose up in her throat.

"Elizabeth! Freeze the fires!" Rhydian or Taeron or Duncan shouted, she couldn't tell who, but did as they said, freezing fires around them. Someone pulled her to the ground. She heard the whizzing of arrows above. She heard cracks too, of wood burnt off.

"Duncan! We need to leave!" Rhydian shouted to the Warden Commander.

"Try the back!" He shouted back. Elizabeth stood.

They all followed Taeron as he led ahead, Elizabeth freezing any fire that comes close. Unfortunately, there were a lot of them, tiring her out. She drank another lyrium potion. There were few left and unfortunately, Elizabeth wasn't an alchemist so brewing more wasn't an option.

Taeron pushed the door. It didn't open. He tried again. He stepped back and smashed the door down with his foot.

"Get him!" There was a cry. She heard the crossing of swords and by the time she exited the burning building, Duncan and Taeron were standing over two bodies.

"Everyone out? Good, we need to get out of here, now!" Duncan ordered.

The inn collapsed in on itself and there were bits of wood falling down around it.

There were soldiers all around the inn and the road around it. Maybe a dozen, maybe even more. They were basically hiding behind trees, avoiding the enemy's line of sight. Taeron led them, being native to the forest terrain. They moved through the bushes, back around the inn, avoiding the clearing where the main entrance was.

"Over there!" Someone shouted. Elizabeth froze, ready to burn the forest down. A few soldiers ran past them down the road, three horsemen riding ahead to something they had found. There were two on the road now. Bowmen. Taeron signalled to Rhydian, who gave a short nod. Taeron shot one of them and Rhydian cut the other's throat. They signalled for her and Duncan to go.

After crossing the road, they sped up, running in a line. There was a river to their right now and the shouts of soldiers were slowly fading.

"Were they the same soldiers as earlier?" Elizabeth asked.

"Aye, they had the same uniform" Taeron replied.

"They were looking for someone. Do you think it was us?" Rhydian asked Duncan.

"No, The Grey Wardens choose no sides. We combat Blights, not Lords." The commander explained.

There was a sudden growling. Elizabeth turned rapidly to its direction. It was one of those Mabari dogs, covered in war paint.

"Aaah!" She heard Rhydian cry out. She turned, in time to see him tumble down towards the river. In his place now stood a man, sword and shield in hand, dressed in heavy chainmail, a plated helmet in his head.

"Damn!" Taeron swore, drawing his faithful blade. Duncan drew his weapons as well.

Elizabeth tried turning back to the dog but was too late. The mutt smashed into her, sending her to the ground, tumbling towards the river bed, same as the city elf. She reached out, for anything, anything. Elizabeth felt her hand catch something, a root or a bush, it didn't matter. There were sounds of fight above that worried Elizabeth. Taeron was sick, after all. She used her feet to balance her weight and pulled herself up, hiking up the slope. 'Where's my staff?' Elizabeth looked around frantically, looking down to the river, where the current was as quick as it was deadly. She pulled her self up again, grabbing for everything she could. She grabbed at the red dirt on the slope, it being the final barrier.

After pulling herself up back the ground, she picked herself up, drawing her dagger, but she didn't need to. Taeron was sitting against a tree, the Dar'misu in one hand. His other hand was holding his bleeding side. The Mabari hound was right in front of him, snarling and growling.

Duncan however had a foot on their attackers chest, his sword at his throat. It seems she came at the right time.

"Go on! Do it! I bloody dare you!" The knight attacker spat, his voice muffled by his helmet.

"Your skills with a blade are impressive" Duncan began. Too bad she missed it. "Our Order is in need of great warriors."

"Not bloody interested" The knight replied, "So either kill me or bugger off!"

"Were those men looking for you?" Elizabeth asked before Duncan could continue. The knight nodded, "Why?"

"Well princess, you see, those men are Arl Howe's." The knight said.

"And?"

"See that shield?" The knight asked, motioning with a tilt of his head to a dirty shield lying near him, "See that sigil?" Elizabeth nodded.

"The Laurels of the Couslands" She said under her breath.

"What's your name?" Duncan asked.

"James Cousland, Second Son of Bryce Cousland,Teyrn of Highever" James said, calming down a bit, but keeping his tone aggressive, "Arl Howe betrayed my family and slaughtered everyone in my home. Now I intend to kill him." He spoke with seeming carelessness.

"My condolences for your family's loss. They were great people. However, the Blight is more important" Duncan stated. It was the correct but badly presented, only angering the knight more.

"Screw the Blight" James spat.

"If we don't stop the Blight, your quest for vengeance will be pointless. If you join our order, we'll get the support necessary to destroy Arl Howe. The king himself will help you" Duncan spoke with sincerity and promise.

"Very well. Now get off me!" James said. Duncan did so, helping the noble up. James took off his helmet. He was the image of a perfect noble, with a handsome face full of perfect features, dark brown hair, messily down to his ears and eyes, grey as steel.

"Ami, heel" James commanded. The dog listened, sitting at her master's feet.

Elizabeth knelt at Taeron's side. She moved his hand from his wound. Her hands began to glow blue, healing him. Once he was healed, Elizabeth was done for, second time today. She plopped down next to the Dalish elf, catching her breath and resting her feet.

"Where's Rhydian?" Elizabeth asked tiredly.

"Right here" She heard the city elf's exhausted reply. He was drenched, and muddy, and bloodied.

"Are you hurt?" She followed up.

"Not really, no. Just a minor cut."

"We'll set up camp right here for the time being, to end the night and actually rest" Duncan said, "Tomorrow, we go to Ostagar"

* * *

Thanks to RhydianStorm, Judy and Leonah Z for reviewing and all of you for reading! Please feel free to leave a review! Thanks to

Constructive criticism is welcome.


	4. Chapter 4 - Ostagar

Tabris I -Ostagar

* * *

Ostagar's spired towers were impressive. They were old, but they still held high, the Tevinter buildings having been built to withstand Chasind invasion. How fitting that they would face the darkspawn here. There were walls higher than those in Denerim, and thicker, from the look of it, but somewhat crumbled from age. There were columns of smoke rising from inside, likely from the campfires lit by soldiers.

Their party was worn out. Losing the Cousland castle as a resting point really wore on them, especially Elizabeth. She looked exhausted, blue eyes bloodshot, with bags under them. Her hair, dishevelled and dirtied was wildly blowing in the soft breeze. Her robes were tattered, the colour barely distinguishable.

Taeron was trying to mask his pain behind a solemn façade, but it was obvious he was suffering from Blight sickness. He and the Dale tried to get along for the sake of Duncan and Elizabeth, but behind their backs insults were traded and threats were made. The cause of their conflict was definitely the Dalish elf, his terrible attitude towards the city elves.

Even Lord James was showing signs of exhaustion. The knight also hid behind a façade. It was understandable. Even Rhydian had not lost the entirety of his family. Both the Lord and the Dale maintained a distance from the party, and each other, for they too showed signs if negativity towards each other. The Lord's hound – Ami, spent hours at a time searching for other animals, or so it seemed because, there were no animals. It was one of the signs that Darkspawn had a presence here, apparently.

"Ho there Duncan!" A tall man in golden plate armour approached them at the entrance, flanked by at least a dozen well-armoured knights.

Duncan looked more surprised than Rhydian had seen him in their two weeks of travel. "King Cailan! I wasn't expecting a-"

"A royal welcome?" The King asked, smile on his face. It was strange. He sounded so happy, so excited, like a child waiting for a sweet, "I was beginning to think you'd miss all the fun!" He continued.

"Not if I can help it, Your Majesty" Duncan replied. The King seemed to be fascinated by Duncan, like he was some sort of hero.

"And these are your new recruits?" The King turned to Elizabeth, "Tell me, who are you?"

"Elizabeth Amell, of The Circle of Magi, Your Majesty" Elizabeth said politely bowing.

"Amell is nobility, is it not? In Kirkwall?" The King asked, lightheartedly. Elizabeth's face lost a bit of colour.

"It's not important, Your Majesty" Elizabeth replied. The King smiled and turned to the city elf.

"Rhydian Tabris, of the Alienage of Denerim, Your Majesty" Rhydian said, respectfully.

"Tell me, how is the Alienage. My advisors don't let me visit them." The King asked. What a stupid question, Rhydian thought. It was pretty well-known, especially amongst the nobility, that the alienage was not a pretty place.

"Your majesty, the alienage is not like anything you know. It isn't a good, our life. We live barely able to feed ourselves, fearing everyday that some noble can come and kill us, take our women, everything we work so hard for." The city elf said. The king listened carefully.

"I will make sure that elves live equal to all humans, after this is over." King Cailan promised. Rhydian seriously doubted it.

"And what of you?" Taeron was next. The Dale frowned.

"Taeron Mahariel. Sabrae clan" The elf introduced himself in an uncaring and tired voice.

"I have heard stories of your people. Not all true, I suppose" The King said before moving on.

"Saving best for last Cai?" Lord James asked jokingly, taking off his helmet. Ami barked happily, wagging her tail.

"James Cousland!" The King's excitement grew as he hugged his friend, "What are you doing here? I thought Bryce left you in Highever"

James' smile disappeared. "He's dead. Mother is dead. Oren and Orianna are dead." The King's eyes widened and his look was one of shock.

"I'm so sorry. How?" King Cailan asked, putting a hand on James' shoulder.

"Rendon Howe" Lord James spat the name.

"He will pay. Once we beat the darkspawn, Howe will be punished by the might of Ferelden." The King swore.

"Be careful Cai, Howe is a snake. You and I both know he wouldn't act without being sure there wouldn't be negative consequences." Lord James warned.

"Well then, with introductions out of the way" The King turned to leave.

"Your uncle sends word from Redcliffe that their forces will be here by the end of the week." Duncan stated.

"Ha! Eamon just wants in on the glory!" King Cailan said, "We've won three victories already. Tomorrow shall be no different"

"Blights have been known to last decades, Your Majesty." Elizabeth spoke up.

"I'm not even sure this is a true Blight! There's been plenty of Darkspawn, but alas, no Archdemon" He replied. Rhydian cast a look to Duncan, who gave a brief nod.

"Well then, my apologies for cutting this short, but I need to get back to Loghain. James, I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you."

"Oh yeah, because breaking into the man's kennels and letting out his hounds is bound to make him excited." Lord James joked.

"When you're finished, meet me by the Warden's tents." Duncan said as the King, Lord James and the dozen guards left.

"We should proceed with The Joining as soon as possible. We'll need all of our abilities for this coming fight." Duncan said.

"What happens in The Joining?" Rhydian asked.

"You'll have to see for yourself. Our Order's secrets are that – secrets" Duncan replied. That made Rhydian uneasy.

"Can we rest first?" Elizabeth asked.

"Of course. Take the time you need to prepare. Once you're ready, find the Grey Warden Alistair and come by the Warden's tents. There are two other recruits you can meet as well." Duncan said, leaving.

The army camp was very busy. There were troops running by, conducting exercises. There were those in formations, being lectured about the Darkspawn, cavalrymen riding by, others tending to their horses. There were dozens of archers on elevated points, patrolling. Others sat around, or chatted about with their comrades. And this was only on this side of the bridge.

The view off the bridge was impressive. They were high above the valley, the view stretching for miles both North and South. Below them were hundreds of tents in the colours of Ferelden, troops moving around like thousands of ants. On the bridge itself there were ballistas, aimed towards the wilds.

The other side of the bridge was more expansive and diverse in its inhabitants. There were elves running errands for Arls and Banns, smiths sharpening and improving weapons and armour, mabari being painted in different designs and colours. There was a presence from the Circle as well, with dozens of Templars guarding specific tents and corners of Ostagar, presumably the ones with the mages. There were Chantry sisters giving out blessings in the name of the Maker and even Elven militias being trained for the fight.

"I'm going to explore for a bit. This place is magnificent, all the history, the power here.

"Meet us by the quartermaster then, alright?" Rhydian asked, pointing to where he saw store boxes and a burly man handing gear to some soldier, then checking something off the list.

"Yes, alright" Elizabeth replied before trailing off.

"So...where to, flat-ear?" Taeron asked.

"Well, da'len" He said mockingly, much to Taeron's distaste, "I was going to check with the quartermaster for some gear."

"Right then. Let's go get gear, seth'lin" Taeron said. Seth'lin? It sounded like another insult. 'I'll remember that one' Rhydian thought.

"Oi knife-ear, have you delivered the sword I gave you to Bann Waron?" Oh no. Did he think him a servant? "Why are you wearing armour?"

"I am not your slave, you hear?" Rhydian snapped, drawing one of his daggers.

"I...I meant no offence sir. I'm just a simple quartermaster." The human apologised, realising his mistake. Rhydian sheathed his dagger.

"I want a discount. For your insult" Rhydian demanded. He wasn't that offended, after all, he'd lived his life taking insults. But money was a problem. All he had was what he took off the Denerim guards and a bit he took off one of the soldiers at the inn. It amounted to a total of two sovereigns, thirty seven silvers and forty one coppers.

"I'll give you half-price" The quartermaster offered.

"I'll take it" Rhydian said. He asked for some light armour, with chainmail accents, and matching boots. He also asked for two new shortswords. They were steel, well made and sharpened and a welcome change to the daggers.

Taeron got himself a steel dagger and a few more arrows. Rhydian was looking at a man trying to get some pretty soldier to sleep with him. He failed and strode over to them.

He was Daveth, another of the recruits. He told Taeron about how he came to be a recruit and about the other recruit, some knight from Redcliffe.

Elizabeth found them a minute or two later, now clean. Her hair was that perfect snow white again, very surprisingly. Her robes were discarded, changed for a clean cotton shirt.

"You should get some armour" Rhydian recommended. She nodded and chose a steel breastplate. She also got fingerless leather gloves.

"Did you find Alistair yet?" She asked. Rhydian shook his head.

"No, but we did meet another of the recruits." The elf replied.

"Oh. Let's go find Alistair then" Elizabeth said.

They wandered around Ostagar for minutes, asking around for an Alistair. Most didn't know him, some only knew him by description, but the general opinion was that he was in the East Tower.

On the platform there were two men: a mage, at the sight of whom Elizabeth sighed and another knight, blonde. Alistair, Rhydian presumed.

"Out of my way, fools!" The mage stormed off, angry.

"Wonderful to see how the Blight can bring people together" Alistair said.

"Are you Alistair?" Elizabeth asked.

"I am. And you must be the new recruits..." Alistair replied, obviously not knowing their names.

"I'm Rhydian. These are Taeron and Elizabeth" Rhydian introduced.

"Strange...There aren't many women or elves in The Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is" Alistair wondered. He was ingnored, Elizabeth asking questions instead.

"Why would you anger the Enchanter?" She asked.

"The Revered mother made me an errand boy for the mages. She's got a wicked sense of humour, that woman. You see, I used to be a Templar." Alistair explained.

"Bleeding Andraste" Elizabeth swore under her breath, "You were a Templar?"

"I WAS a Templar, until six months ago" Alistair clarified hastily.

"Let's just go find Duncan" Taeron said, changing the subject of the conversation.

"Yes, let's" Lord James came up to them.

"Alistair, this is James. James, Alistair" Elizabeth introduced. The men shook hands.

"Ah, I see you've found Alistair" Duncan said, "These are the other two recruits" He gestured to Daveth and some other man, another knight (there seemed to be a lot of those around), with a short trim and sickly palish skin, a greatsword on his back, "This is Daveth, of Denerim and Ser Jory, of Highever." Jory kissed Elizabeth's hand, something that seemed to make her a bit uneasy.

"You are being sent to The Wilds to collect darkspawn blood and find ancient Warden documents. This is somewhat of a test, to see how you can work as a group, as well as your individual strengths. Each of you will get a vial to fill." Duncan said.

"And what are these documents for?" Lord James asked.

"They are ancient treaties of the Wardens. The Order could use them to call upon all races and kingdoms to combat the Blight. You will find them in an abandoned Warden outpost once you're in the wilds. Alistair will come with you for this task." Duncan finished explaining.

"Can we spend time to prepare?" Rhydian asked.

"Of course. Sleep, eat. You need rest for tomorrow. You will be going first thing in the morning."

* * *

Thank you for reading! Special thanks to BusyMonkey and Leonah Z for reviewing.

Next Chapter – The Wilds

Leave a review! Constructive criticism is welcome!


	5. Chapter 5 - The Wilds

James I - The Wilds

* * *

The Korcari Wilds, glum as they may be, gave him a weird sort of comfort. He enjoyed the false sense of freedom, it gave him hope for the future. He tried not to think about running everyone in their little party through with his sword. He definitely could, there was no arguing with that, but he didn't want to. And whether it was his laziness or his conscience, he did not know.

James yawned. It was that weird comfort, it seemed to tire him. He looked around. What surrounded him was swamp, swamp and more swamp. There was only a small bit of land for them to advance on. Perfect place for ambushes, he thought. And it was that thought that kept him from completely shutting down. He looked to his party and saw the following: Elizabeth, held by both the elves, was slowly going into the muddy waters under the cheering of Alistair and under the watch of Daveth and Jory. James assumed that she was trying to get the bright white and red flower, situated on a small drowned tree.

He gave a out a bark of laugher when she suddenly fell waist-deep into the swamp waters, earning him a few curses.

"You're going for the flower right? What for?" James asked.

"I'm getting it for a sick Mabari," Elizabeth replied, "The kennel master said it could help."

When she picked it, Taeron and Rhydian pulled her out. The mage was covered in thick mud, all the way up to her chest. She wiped her forehead, leaving a nice thick trail of said mud on her face and bits of her hair.

"Well, now that that's settled, we have papers to find and blood to get, if you haven't forgotten, so we should really be going," Alistair said. Elizabeth shook as much dirt off as she could and put the flower into a satchel at her side.

That was the moment Ami came back from her scouting, barking to attract their attention.

"What is it girl?" He asked the hound. She pointed her nose towards a direction and James followed, not listening to the cries of "Wait" and "Hold up", made by his fellow recruits. He, however, did no listen. He had sent Ami to find any traces of Fergus, or anyone really. Cailan had said that Fergus had gone scouting with a handful of the Highever soldiers and vassals. Fergus was a good warrior, not as good as him, obviously, but even that didn't stop the younger Cousland worrying for his brother's life.

The Mabari led them to a battleground. Soldier's corpses, mixed with dead darkspawn, were scattered about a small area in the swamp. Corpses were strung up by their guts in the trees, thrown into the swamp waters, mutilated. Some were thrown in a pile and burned. The fight had been brutal, making the mage and Daveth sick, even making them empty their stomachs.

Ami was running around a corpse, no, not a corpse, barking. It had been a survivor.

"Help me.." It had been a strangled rasp. James ran to the man's side.

"Who are you? Who is your lord?" The Cousland's questions were quick and he doubted the man had even heard him, as the soldier had been in a ton of pain.

"We should kill him," Taeron said, causing negative reactions and disappoval from the members of his party.

Alistair spoke up: "What? No! We can't! How could you even suggest such a thing! We should patch him up. I've got bandages in my pack."

"It would be a mercy," Taeron said, "When an animal is suffering, you should kill it."

"But he's not an animal," Rhydian argued.

"Whatever," The Dalish elf said.

"Princess, can you help him?" James looked to her. She was thinking about something, her eyes unfocused.

"I can try. I don't know if it'll help though. I'm not a healer, I just know the basics," She said.

When she approached, the wounded soldier tried to move away, causing himself pain.

"Please stay calm. I'm only trying to help. I swear I won't hurt you," Elizabeth said, making her voice as sweet as possible. The soldier didn't seem to believe her, so James and Rhydian had to hold him down. The mage began to cast a healing spell, her hands glowing green as she traced his wounds. She looked very focused, having bitten her lip. A bead of sweat had gone down her forehead. James had to admit, she looked very alluring.

"There," She said, "I stopped the bleeding and closed he wounds, however they can easily reopen. We'll need to use those bandages you offered Alistair." Alistair nodded, kneeling down and beginning to wrap the soldier's wounds. Once he was finished, James began to ask questions. The soldier explained that he was a West Hill man, one that had gone as part of Fergus' scouting party, but who split off from the Cousland party. James thanked the man, sending him off to Ostagar. The soldier, in turn, thanked them for their help and limped off to Ostagar.

"We should head back," Jory offered, his pale face even paler, "These were trained scouts and even they were ambushed. Imagine what will happen to us if we go on."

"Oh calm down. If we don't die here, we'll die at Ostagar. The horde will attack it anyway. Aren't you meant to be brave, Ser knight?" said Daveth. The thief had a point that couldn't be argued with.

"I am. I just don't want to die for nothing. If we die at Ostagar, we'll be dying for the king, for Ferelden," Jory argued.

"You need not worry Ser Jory. Grey Wardens have a special darkspawn sense that allows us to detect darkspawn from afar. We'll be ready should any darkspawn attempt to ambush us," Alistair explained. It seemed to convince Jory to keep going, but he jumped at nearly every broken branch.

They passed a few ancient ruin, probably dating back to he times of the Tevinter Imperium.

There was a half-ruined archway, behind which there was a small ridge. James saw multiple Genlocks and Hurlocks on the ridge. He signalled to the others. Taeron and Daveth quickly drew their bows, Elizabeth prepared her staff and the rest prepared for a close-quarters fight. Daveth and the Dalish elf let off an arrow each, then another. The speed at which they shot was impresseive. The mage cast a few quick purple bolts at the enemy. Half of the small darkspawn party had fallen by the time the bulk of the Wardens had advanced. James cut through the first two advancing darkspawn with ease. Rhydian stabbed a Genlock to death with his daggers. Alistair knocked off a Hurlock's blow with his shield, following up with a powerful stab, managing to pierce the creature's armour through completely. Even Jory cut down a genlock with his two-hander, nearly splitting it in half. Jory wasn't even half-bad. James decided that his only problem was his cowardice.

The darkspawn party quickly melted down and was soon non-existent. They quickly filled all their vials with blood, which hissed and bubbled, making James handle the vials with extreme care.

They met another party of darkspawn, very small, near a bridge. It must have broken off from the one we met earlier, James thought. It was very quickly decimated, thanks mostly to the incredible skill of Taeron Mahariel. They also came upon Genlock rogues, whom James was getting sick of. They'd snort, giving away their positions, then attack. Being lightly armoured and ill-equipped, they were quickly taken down.

At the end of the bridge stood a lone hurlock, it's face painted with blood and it wore some sort of headgear. It also held a staff, signifying it as something mage-like.

"Emissary!" Alistair called out. Snort. Oh no, James thought. He turned around swiftly raising his shield and readying his sword.

"Elizabeth, take out the mage! Alistair, Taeron, defend her," James ordered, "The rest, on the Genlocks."

He counted the rogues. There were seven of them. James blocked a dozen blows from one of the rogues before spinning around and beheading it. He lunged at the next one, stabbing it and blocking another strike. The Genlock, whose strikes he blocked was felled by an arrow. He quickly gave the elf a grateful nod. It was courtesy. He could have dealt with the Genlock anyway. James looked around. Ami was tearing out a Genlock's throat. Jory and Daveth cooperatively dealt with another rogue. He saw Rhydian charging at a wave of darkspawn reinforcements. The emissary had been dealt with but Elizabeth looked quite tired and was forced to drink some of blue liquid. It seemed to give her a burst of energy. James smashed into the darkspawn reinforcements at the same time as Alistair, forming a hard fist that smashed the line of fresh Hurlocks, throwing the first few to the ground, where they were finished off by Rhydian, Daveth, Jory and Ami. The Genlock and Hurlock archers fell to missles cast by Taeron and Elizabeth. James cut through the rest of the Hurlocks like a hot knife through butter. After finishing his opponents, he went on to help Alistair. Making quick work of the Hurlock remainder, James saw another party in the distance. It did not move however, just merely waited.

"Well...that was tough," said Elizabeth, exhaustion laced in her voice.

"That, princess, was only a minor skirmish. We still have the Blight to deal with," James replied.

"I'm sorry that we don't get grand battles in the tower," She said it with a bit of annoyance, huffed and turned away from him. He, in turn, was quite amused by this child-like behaviour.

"It's great that you decided to talk about this now," said Alistair, "You know, with a darkspawn unit literally in sight."

"I wouldn't worry about it," James replied casually. The darkspawn hadn't yet proven themselves to be a threat in his eyes. They easily fell to their party, and they weren't even Grey Wardens yet. James found himself agreeing with Cailan more and more: the Blight could be, and would be, dealt with soon. The Cousland found himself longing for a fight with Howe and his men, rather than the darkspawn. He counted on the quick victory over he darkspawn to free him from his Warden vows, or whatever binding ritual the Wardens had. He thought little of the order: they were once heroes, true, but that time was long past. Some of their more recent "achievements" in Ferelden was the betrayal of the king in 7:5 Storm. While James had a certain amount of respect for the Warden-Commander, he couldn't say the same about anyone else. He'd met the Ferelden Wardens, a group of twenty of so, while at Ostagar. They didn't seem special to him, didn't seem like those from the stories of his childhood. He got the impression that after King Maric allowed the Wardens to return, the only volunteers they could get were outlaws and other rabble found all around Ferelden. He hoped and prayed for the tenth time that day that he'd get to kill Howe, make him suffer in the worst way possible. If Fergus wasn't found, Maker forbid, he'd have to lead the Highever men.

"Milord!" Rhydian shook him from his thoughts. The city elf was pretty alright, he thought. James found him rather polite and well-educated. It helped of course that he was also a decent fighter.

"What is it?" The lordling asked.

"We were going to fight the darkspawn. Are you coming?"

"Why even ask?"

They decided not to change strategy as it seemed to work. Elizabeth, Daveth and Taeron hung back as the rest of them advanced. Ami had disappeared somewhere, probably flanking the enemy. The darkspawn party was made up almost entirely of Hurlocks, not that it meant anything or made the fight more challenging. James cut down two Hurlocks, beheading one and stabbing the other. His blade slid of the darkspawn's armour, luckily into it's throat, opening up a river of blood. He pushed another Hurlock away with his shield and struck with an overhead, splitting it's head in half. He tried pulling his sword out, but it wouldn't budge. Instead, it slipped from his hand, leaving him with only the Cousland Family Shield to defend himself with. I don't even have a dagger, he realised. He caught a sudden sword strike with his shield, kicking the Hurlock in it's shins. They were well-armoured, in a sort of crude dark steel. The weight of the shield was beginning to be to much, so James slipped his arm from the shield and lept back. He saw that his enemy was a tall Hurlock, fully covered in the crude dark plate with a helmet adorned by a pair of horns. It held a vicious-looking two-handed battleaxe in it's hands. This was it, he thought. There would be no revenge, no Teyrn Cousland. He was looking death straight in the face.

Arrows began to hit and bounce off the Hurlock. He also heard barking, followed by a massive body hitting the Hurlock beast, knocking it down. Rhydian was on top of the darkspawn now. He took off it's horned helm and stabbed it several times.

James retrieved his sword. Twice now had he lost a fight. It wasn't a good sign. Hopefully, he'd have more luck in the coming battle against the horde. He looked at the corpse of the heavily-armoured Hurlock.

"What is it? A commander?" James directed the question at Alistair as the only person that knew.

"Yes. An alpha. Thet're better equipped and trained than the regulars," The young Warden replied.

"You don't say."

Having rested a few minutes, they finally made it to the Grey Warden ruin. It looked like a ruined tower. In the centre of it there was a wooden chest, broken. Elizabeth looked inside it.

"There's nothing here," She said, "Maybe they're someplace else. I mean, it would have been awfully convinient."

"Well, well, what have we here?" He froze. It was a feminine voice, not Elizabeth's. Their party turned towards where the voice came from. It came from a pretty dark-haired woman coming down a set of ruined stairs.

"Are you vultures? Scavenging a corpse, the bones of which have long since cleaned away? Or merely intruders, come to these darkspawn-infested woods in seacrh of easy prey?" She kept talking. As she approached, James saw a pair of glowing golden eyes looking his way, "What say you then? Scavenger or intruder?"

"Neither. The Wardens own this tower," James answered for them all.

"Tis a tower no longer. The Wilds have long claimed this corpse." She stood on a large rock, "I've been following you for some time now. Why are they here? Where are they headed? And now you disturb ashes long forgotten. Why is that?"

"Don't answer her. This could be a trap," Alistair warned, "Others could be near."

"You fear someone will swoop down on you," The woman asked Alistair.

"Yes. Swooping is bad," He replied.

"She'll turns us to toads," Daveth claimed, panick setting in his heart.

"You think me some Witch of the Wilds? Such children's tales. Have you not a mind of your own? You there," She looked at Taeron, "Elves are not frightened little boys. Tell me your name and I'll tell you mine."

"I am Taeron Mahariel. It is a pleasure to meet you," The Dalish elf introduced himself.

"Now there is a proper greeting, even here in the Wilds. You may call me Morrigan Shall I guess the reason you're here? You were looking for something in that chest. Something that is no longer here?

"You stole them, didn't you? You're just some kind of...sneaky...witch-thief!" Alistair claimed.

"How very eloquent. And how does one steal from the dead?" Morrigan asked.

"Quite easily, it seems. Those documents are Warden property. I suggest you return them" Alistair tried to sound serious, but it was hard to take him seriously, especially after that last comment.

"I will not, for twas not I who removed them."

"Who did then?" Rhydian asked.

"Twas my mother, in fact. If you wish, I can take you to her. Tis not far," She offered.

"We should get the treaties, but Morrigan's appearance is suspicious to me. It's just far too...convinient," Alistair whispered to them.

"I say we go with her," Elizabeth said, "Otherwise we'll be searching here for hours, all in vain."

"I agree," Said James. Taeron and Rhydian nodded in approval. Daveth disagreed, as did Alistair. Ami stood on her hind legs and attempted to lick the Cousland's face. Jory was still thinks, however, those who voted to go had already won the majority of their little vote.

"We'll take your offer," James announced.

"Very well. Follow me then, if it please you."

* * *

They had been following Morrigan for a quarter of an hour or so before James saw a hut in the distance.

"Tis it, yes," Morrigan answered his unasked question.

When they came even closer, he saw an old woman standing in front of the hut.

"Greetings, mother. I bring you Grey Wardens-" Morrigan began to introduce, but was cut off by the old woman. She gave off a strange feeling of power.

"I see them, child. Hmm, much as I expected," The old woman said.

"Are we supposed to believe you were expecting us?" Alistair asked.

"You are required to do nothing, least of all believe," She replied.

"She's a witch, I tell you," Daveth exclaimed, "We shouldn't be talking to her!"

"Quiet Daveth. If she's a witch, do you want to make her mad?" It was Jory who silenced Daveth.

"Now there's a smart lad. Sadly irrelevant to the large scheme of things, but it is not I who decides," said Morrigan's mother. What did she mean by that? Was Jory going to die? But how would she know?

She approached Taeron, who stood in the front.

"And you? Does your elven mind give you a different viewpoint? What do you believe?" The old lady asked.

"I'm not sure what to believe," He simply replied.

"A statement that contains more wisdom than it implies," She said, "Yet so much about you is uncertain, and I believe. Do I? Why yes, it seems I do." She wasn't making sense, James thought. Was she a witch?

"Is this the dreaded Witch of the Wilds?" Alistair asked that question he'd been thinking on.

"Witch of the Wilds, eh? Morrigan must have mentioned it. She fancies such tales, though she'd never say it! Oh how she dances under the moon..." The old woman laughed.

"They did not come to listen to those wild tales, mother," Morrigan told her.

"True, you came for he treaties, did you not? And before you begin, the old seal wore off. I have been protecting them." She went into the hut and came back out with a small stack of papers.

"You..oh? Protected them?" Alistair was confused.

"Why not? Now go! Take them to your Wardens and tell them that the Blight is greater than they realise," The old lady said.

"Thank you!" Taeron said.

"Ooh, such manners! Always in the last place you look. Now go, you have what you came for!"

"Follow me, I will show you out of the woods" Morrigan ordered. Now, back to Ostagar...

* * *

Thank you for reading and reviewing. Sorry about the hiatus.

Please review! Constructive criticism is welcome!


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